Tape cartridge having a large door and pivotally mounted write protect arm

Abstract

A tape cartridge has a front face sized for compatibility with an industry standard tape drive, and has sides longer than the sides of some industry standard cartridges. The sides and top of the housing extend outwardly in width to form a back portion of the cartridge that is wider than the front portion and prevent the cartridge from being inserted into non-compatible tape drives. Two large diameter tape hubs improve the empty hub to full pack diameter ratios, and improve the resulting tangential drive force and tape tension profiles as the tape moves between the hubs. Flanges are permanently bonded to the hubs to prevent the tape packs from shifting and a spring biases the hubs against the baseplate. A back set of rollers includes a high-drag roller that engages the drive belt at a fixed wrap angle and produces a relatively constant drag. A front set of rollers includes a drive roller and has rollers mounted to form substantially equal geometries with rollers in the back set respective to the tape hubs. The constant wrap angle of the high-drag roller tends to outweigh varying drags from other rollers, causing less change in tape tension and tangential drive force as the tape is transferred from hub to hub. A door covers the capstan and media access openings in the front face of the cartridge when the cartridge is outside of a tape drive. A write protect arm is pivotally mounted at the front face of the cartridge.

Description

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThis invention pertains in general to tape cartridges adapted for the magnetic recording of information and in particular to an improved cartridge having increased tape capacity and higher performance.2. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONFor many years, magnetic recording tape has been utilized as an inexpensive and reliable medium for the storage and retrieval of data processing information. In the personal computer industry, it has become the practice to use tape cartridges to hold the tape and facilitate easy loading of the magnetic tape into a suitably adapted tape drive. Moreover, cartridges protect the magnetic recording tape from contamination and inadvertent contact during operation within the tape drive, as well as during storage outside of the tape drive. Wide acceptance of tape cartridges promoted adoption of standard configurations by the data processing industry.As the data processing industry advances, there is a need for larger-capacity, belt-driven ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The solution reduces variations in tape tension and drive force profiles, provides better protection against contamination, and ensures easy insertion and compatibility with industry-standard drives while maintaining high data storage capacity.

Problems solved by technology

However, lengthening the tape exacerbates undesirable characteristics in the cartridge design.

Since a longer tape results in an increased tape pack diameter, a longer tape worsens the bow-tie profile of tape tension for a given design of tape cartridge.

These variations in the bow-tie tension and TDF profiles may detract from the performance of the tape cartridge.

In addition, the tape in the tape packs tends to vertically shift when the tape cartridge is subject to stress.

However, these flanges cannot withstand high levels of stress and are not adequate for large tape packs.

The door, however, does not cover a second opening in the front face through which the drive roller and portion of the tape are exposed, and which allows dust and other contaminates to contact the media.

This lock is typically a sliding or rotating two-position switch and is often difficult to manipulate.

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